Monday, May 21, 2012

The Goyard Story

That's Guillaume, a charming Frenchman who helped my daughter choose her Goyard, with a great deal of patience and understanding. It really is an experience, or else I wouldn't be writing about it. Goyard beat Louis Vuitton by one year, when it opened the store in 1853. Today, its custom made trunks are ordered by the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, who is one of Goyard's biggest customers. But it needed the vulgarity of a Paris Hilton, to get the right royal snub from Goyard when she had the temerity to ask for a discount, because she is Paris Hilton!! She was politely informed that Goyard does not offer discounts to anyone, not even Karl, who, in any case, never asks, even though his bills run into a million euros annually. Yes, just on Goyard trunks! While we were at the store, we watched Chinese and Japanese customers walking off with top of the line bags, without batting an eyelid while settling the bill. And the trunk Guillaume is posing with belonged to none other than Coco Chanel herself ( it has madmoiselle's initials inscribed). No wonder Guillaume's eyes are sparkling!

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This appeared on Mother's Day in Bombay Times....

Let’s put our weight behind Ash….

Any woman who has gone through pregnancy and become a mother, will understand this perfectly: Having a baby is a life transforming experience that beats all other experiences put together. Unfortunately, it is also a shape-transforming experience. That is how nature intended it. When a woman decides to have a baby, she accepts the entire package – additional kilos included. Some women, like Victoria Beckham pop out their beautiful babies without the slightest alteration to their sleek silhouettes – lucky them. Others, take time and allow their bodies to shrink at a slower pace… without obsessing over the extra weight. They make the baby their top priority, nurse the infant, enjoy that marvelous, tender time together, without giving a damn about a double chin, or a few tyres around the waist. Those melt away later, once the new mother resumes her normal routine and starts a simple regimen to keep the newly acquired fat deposits at bay. It is generally a highly narcissistic new mum who chooses to make her own weight a priority above everything else – the baby’s well being included. Clearly, Aishwarya Rai is not that woman. And can we please get off her back and let her enjoy her little one without giving her grief each time she steps out of her home? Frankly, the spiteful and hostile comments to Aishwarya’s post-baby appearance have been so exaggerated one wonders why. Is it because our own idyll of perennial perfection and startling beauty has been somehow shattered? After all, Aishwarya is consistently referred to as ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’. There have been enough green-with-envy rivals who have spent sleepless nights trying to topple her from that throne. Ash was the lucky actress who had it all… including a fairytale marriage to a really sweet guy. Then came the baby news. All this was a bit too much for some to handle. Competitors had waited long years to find that chink in her Ash’s armour… something they could swoop down on. And they found it in – of all places – her weight!

It is like a vicious , orchestrated campaign against a woman who generates a huge amount of jealousy just for looking the way she does. It gives plain looking ladies a vicarious thrill to see Ash in a less than flattering light right now. Her more enlightened sponsors are standing by her, though, insists her spokesperson. And they respect her right to enjoy motherhood minus pressure to fit into a single digit size gown. There’s more to life than that red carpet appearance… yes, even at Cannes. Ash realizes as much.New mothers in urban society have it really hard these days. It is such a pity. We are being brainwashed into feverishly ‘getting into shape’, even before the baby is weaned. There are young mothers who refuse to breast feed their kids for fear of losing their curves and ‘sagging’! There are others who go so far as to say they don’t want to ‘spoil’ their figures by having a baby in the first place. The film industry imposes its own cruel diktats , making demands on mothers in the business to look like svelte and sexy ‘yummy mummies’ overnight… or else! Women are idiotically punishing themselves instead of enjoying motherhood for what it is – a time to make the most of those magical months when an innocent, entirely dependent new life thrives on and flowers with the mother’s unconditional love,attention and care.Ash has chosen to invest in her daughter, rather than hit the gym neurotically or starve herself to fit into those old jeans. It’s time to butt out of her life and leave her alone.Ash has her priorities in place - her mommie- time with the baby could well be the best decision of her life.Besides, the glow of motherhood is the best cosmetic in the world…. Because mother and baby are both ‘worth it’.

14 comments:

Very well said. Ashwariya has set an example of a true mother, and all the heroines always yearning for sizes 0-9 must take a lesson from her. There is more to life than 'lights-camera-action'. And hats off to the Bachchan family who have never reacted to any controversies that people keep on raking about them!

LOL. She should now get on twitter. That's the best stage for any"OLD,OVER WEIGHT, UNCLES, AUNTIES" or any unattractive/ outdated people to earn glory & it's free too. If UGLY/ LOSER rich men can hire eye candy women to shine their party life & flirt with underage girls on twitter, why not twitter for aged actress too? :p Welcome to the world of cynicism.

It's very commendable. She has done the right thing. The Child comes first. A baby is attached more towards the Mother and gets the comfort, strength, love and security.This bonding helps in building a strong foundation for the Child who will surely have a sound upbringing.

Anarkali became an Anar. Chalta hai. Age and motherhood do it to all of us. Me especially!

Perhaps if her publicity people had not insisted on repeating and underlining "the most beautiful woman in the world" tag at every given or non given opportunity, neither her "fat or fit" would have been taken seriously by any of us. For the last decade and a half, her public persona has pretty much only been based on her looks (not her brains or ability or innate humanity), so why would you expect everyone to suddenly view her as an earth mother devi and forget about her former devdasi face and figure. Given this background, to scold the media for pointing out her chub, is unfair.

I hope she is having a good time taking care of her baby, Truly that was the happiest time in my own life. Besides scraping out and washing dirty diapers is good for the soul. I highly reccommend it for everyone.

About SRK... what an ass! He had to get all Punjabi puttar/Delhi Ka Thug on some poor minion who could not talk back. Drunk or not no sane movie star who knows all eyes are on him, should behave like this. Pressure or no pressure this was ridiculous behavior, And how come no one asked their rich kids to issue a statement apologizing for breaking the rules? Instead we have "friends of SRK" talking about how SRK would never be drunk and how their own children who were on the field came home and told them all about it. HA! The children need to apologize for behaving badly in the first place. At the age of 12 I would hope my own kids will have a better sense of what rules are in place or implied.

In any case, I moseyed on over to watch that panel discussion. Half the talking heads were really talking out of their arses. Shaina NC and that endorsement manager guy need to walk the plank immediately for their boorish and opinions. Dilip Tahil, and that cricket fella can vouch for SRK's character, but I see what I see and I read the transcript that I do. IPS Singh needs to form sentences in his head before he opens his mouth. He says one thing, probably meaning something else. Mayank is bright fella, but failed to clap his hand over Shaina's mouth to stop her talking rubbish. For that I blame him. The Hello woman made some interesting points. Shobhaa you talked sense and knew exactly how to dismiss them with a sarcastic shake of your head. Loved that. And why does Arnab not have ANY CONTROL over his panelists? Tsk, tsk. Too timid to say... This is my show and I ask the questions and allow each one of you to talk. It was beginning to sound like the Koli fishwives haggling with stupid customers at Sassoon Docks at mid day!

So many typos in my comment above! Impassioned typing blinds me to proofreading before I press submit. Nah I am not going to correct anything! The drama in what I write on the spur of the moment is kaafi clear :)

really inspiring article and an excellent selection on mother's day.......... Aiswarya should spent more time with the baby, and truly enjoy the motherhoooddd..........those are the priceless momentz of a woman's life